Indictment Unsealed Charges Former Ptech President with Dealing in Assets of Specially Designated Global Terrorist

BOSTONA former resident of Somerville, Mass. who has been living in South Korea was arrested today after arriving at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.

An indictment, originally returned on March 1, 2007, was unsealed today charging Buford George Peterson and Oussama Abdul Ziade, both former officers of Ptech, Inc., a computer software company that was principally located in Quincy, Mass., with making false statements to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in connection with a loan application in the amount of $650,000 for Ptech submitted under a program offered to assist small businesses economically harmed by the attacks of September 11, 2001. The indictment charges Peterson and Ziade with falsely representing the identities of Ptechs major shareholders in this loan application to conceal the ownership interest in Ptech held by a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, Yassin Kadi aka Yassin Al-Kadi aka Yassin Al-Qadi aka Yassin Qadi (Kadi) through Sarmany Limited, a company Kadi owned and controlled. Ziade served as Ptechs President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of its Board of Directors from February 1994 to 2003 while Peterson served as Ptechs Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer from February 2001 to August 2002.

Acting U.S. Attorney Michael K. Loucks; Bruce M. Foucart, Special Agent in Charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Office of Investigations in Boston; Warren T. Bamford, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation - Boston Field Office; and Susan Dukes, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation - Boston Field Office, announced today that a seven-count indictment, originally returned on March 1, 2007, was unsealed charging Peterson and Ziade with making false statements to the SBA in Ptechs loan application in January 2002 when they falsely represented the identity of the major stockholders of Ptech (those owning 20 percent or more of stock) by omitting in Ptechs stock ownership table any reference to Sarmany Limited, a company owned and controlled by Kadi. The indictment also charges Ziade with engaging in transactions involving, and dealing in, the property of Kadi, a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and making false statements to law enforcement during the investigation of Ptech.

According to the indictment, beginning in or about 1994 and continuing until or about 2001, Kadi, a Saudi Arabian national, invested approximately $10 million dollars in Ptech through companies he owned, controlled or in which he held a beneficial interest. On Oct. 12, 2001, pursuant to Executive Order 13224, entitled Blocking Property and Prohibiting Transactions with Persons who Commit, Threaten to Commit, or Support Terrorism, which was issued in response to the attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States government designated Kadi as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. As a result, any transaction involving, or dealing in, any interest in any property, direct or indirect, held by Kadi, and subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, was prohibited.

As of Oct. 12, 2001, the date of Kadis designation, Kadi owned and controlled a large percentage of Ptech common shares. The indictment alleges that Kadi held that interest in the names of [foreign] entities he owned and controlled or in which he held a beneficial interest... At the time of his designation, Ziade knew that Kadi held an interest in Ptech stock issued in the names of Kadis entities. According to the indictment, on or about Nov. 29, 2001, Ziade drafted a capitalization table identifying Kadi as the owner of approximately 9.9 million dollars worth of Ptech common shares, which had been issued by Ptech in the names of Kadis entities. The indictment further alleges that Ziade engaged in transactions designed in whole or in part to conceal the source and ownership of Ptech's assets and common stock.

If convicted on these charges, Peterson faces up to 30 years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release and a $1 million fine.

Also unsealed today was a criminal complaint issued on July 27, 2005 charging Ziade with attempting to engage in transactions involving, and dealing in, the property of Kadi, a Specially Designated Global Terrorist; knowingly making false statements to the SBA in a loan application submitted on behalf of Ptech; and making false statements to law enforcement. Ziade, a Lebanese national, has been living outside of the country since 2005.

If arrested and convicted of the charges in the indictment, Ziade also faces up to 30 years in prison, to be followed by five years supervised release and a $1 million fine.

The case was jointly investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation. The Medford Police Department, Massachusetts State Police, U.S. Secret Service, Office of Foreign Asset Control of the U.S. Department of Treasury, and U.S. Small Business Administration also provided assistance in the investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys B. Stephanie Siegmann and Jeffrey Auerhahn of Loucks Anti-Terrorism and National Security Unit.

The details contained in the indictment are allegations. The defendants are presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

SNIPPET: “M. Yaqub Mirza was a Ptech board member who also was a longtime officer at the Herndon, Va.-based SAAR Foundation. Federal investigators have long believed that SAAR officials were significant members of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States. Dozens of homes and offices related to the SAAR Foundation were raided in March 2002 by federal agents investigating terror financing. Information from that raid was used in the Ziade investigation.

One SAAR subsidiary, Sterling Management Group, held a small ownership stake in Ptech, which included a Virginia-based subsidiary called the Sterling Ptech Fund, LLC.

Soliman Biheiri, a Ptech co-founder, was convicted in 2004 for illegally concealing his extensive business and social relationship with Mousa Abu Marzook, a designated terrorist and leader of Hamas.

Qadi, meanwhile, has not been charged with any crimes and denies the allegations that he helped finance Al Qaeda. Foreign governments have reached conflicting conclusions about him. He remains designated as a global terrorist by the U.S. Turkey has moved to freeze his assets, too. Swiss prosecutors, however, closed their investigation into Qadi in 2007 with no charges filed.”

Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.